Denmark considers apology after study reveals that Jews were deported to Nazi Germany

A new official Danish study reveals that authorities in the Scandinavian country deported at least 19 Jews to Germany during World War II despite warnings that they might be killed. The revelations are so serious that Danish Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen said he was considering issuing an official apology for the country's treatment of Jews during the war, according to an e-mail he wrote to the newspaper "Politiken", which published details of the government-commissioned study. The report, which has yet to be completed, reveals that the deportations were authorized between 1940 and 1942 by high-level justice ministry officials in occupied Denmark without pressure from Germany, the newspaper "Politiken" has reported. The study challenges long-held Danish images of a small, occupied nation valiantly helping Jews to escape to Sweden and actively resisting the Nazis, both of which did happen. Meanwhile, Iceland also became embroiled in the issue. The government said last week it did not see the point of apologizing for the country's deportation of Jews to Nazi Germany in the run-up to World War II. "To whom should the Icelandic government apologize?" asked the prime minister's press secretary, Steingrimur Olafsson.